


Dad the Detective

by everythingmurky



Category: Broadchurch
Genre: Bit of Fluff, Episode Related, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Missing Scene, Season/Series 03, Slight spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-19
Updated: 2017-03-19
Packaged: 2018-10-07 14:10:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10362201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/everythingmurky/pseuds/everythingmurky
Summary: Hardy does something about his morning visit.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Again, I'll put my notes at the end just cause... a bit spoilery.

* * *

He was tired. It made him shorter than usual with the chirpy DC.

The thought nagging in the back of his mind didn't help matters, either. He hadn't paid much attention to his conversation at the doors this morning, but now that he looked back on it, he didn't like what he heard. Not only had those boys failed to answer any of his questions, but he'd also overlooked what they said in his hurry to get to work.

He'd insisted Daisy was at school. Not because he knew she was, not because he'd seen her there, hadn't even dropped her off. He'd just assumed she was there because that was what he wanted her to be, and he knew better than that. He wanted to trust his daughter, wanted to believe in her, but he wasn't that sort of man, not even with her.

He'd missed lunch, and he was never home. He was a crap parent, and he knew it.

He was also a detective, and he knew where she was.

* * *

“Daisy.”

She looked up, eyes a bit wide, and he folded his arms over his chest, not amused by the reaction. She was surprised to see him. He was disappointed to see her.

“Dad. What are you doing here?”

“Isn't the question what are _you_ doing here?” he countered, well aware she would snap at him first chance she got. He shouldn't let it get to him, but he could already see the pattern, and he didn't want to repeat it. Her mother lost that war, and he didn't know what he'd do if he did.

“It's just a park,” she said, shrugging like it didn't matter. He glared at her. She knew better than that, though he suppose it could be worse. At least she wasn't trying to lie to him. That would have gotten them both shouting in no time. “Why'd you come here?”

“Because the boys said you'd be here.”

She winced. “The boys.”

“Aye, the boys,” Hardy repeated. “The same boys that came by the house, refused to give their names, and said you'd be here. Those boys. You want to tell me who they are?”

“Dad, it's nothing.”

“No, it is not nothing,” he said. He didn't spout off on any of that second chance stuff, even if this was Daisy's and she was close to blowing it. “Did you miss the news yesterday?”

She hadn't. He could see it before the question was half-finished. “No. It's a small town. Everyone's talking about it.”

“Even the boys?”

“Dad—”

“We don't know who did this,” he told her. “We don't know who hurt that woman. We don't know why they chose her. We don't know if they will attack someone else. You're out here, pulling a bunk, and your friends are boys who won't give their names—”

“Dad, it's not them.”

“Do you know that? Do you know every step of their movements that night? Were you with them?” Hardy thought back to his own Saturday night, watching his daughter's face, since they both had been in that night, a rare thing for him and a bit of an annoyance for her, he was sure.

“No,” she admitted slowly.

“Please,” he said, touching her arm. “I know you're old enough where you won't tell me everything, and I know you're strong. Brave. Smart, most of the time, but Daisy, this isn't a normal time. You can't trust anyone. I want you to be careful. I want you to stay safe. I'd never forgive myself if something happened.”

“Soppy,” she said, but the joke fell a bit flat. “I'm fine, I promise. And I will be more careful.”

“And you'll stop skipping school?”

“Dad—”

“Don't. What if something happened to you, and I thought you were at school, so I didn't look for you for hours? What if no one did? You could die.”

“Oh, like you and not taking care of your heart?”

“That's different.”

“No, it isn't.”

“It is. I'm not at risk to this kind of predator. You could be,” Hardy insisted. “Daisy, this isn't the sort of thing you want to mess about with. Even Miller's spooked by it. I can tell. If a policewoman twice your age is worried, don't you think you should be, too?”

Daisy sighed. “I already promised to be careful.”

Hardy, unsure what to do about the impasse they were in, ended up reaching for her and pulling her close against him. “I know I'm not the best at this. It's half the reason I left you with your mother when it fell apart, but darling, I'm trying. And I'm not joking. I am worried about you. And I do care that you're not in school.”

“Are you going to investigate the boys now?”

“Should I?”

“No.”

He would anyway, and they both knew it.

**Author's Note:**

> Season three seems to be pointing toward Hardy being a bad father. It also points to him being good, since he brought Daisy to Broadchurch to start over, but I was kind of disappointed that there was no follow up to the scene at his house when the boys showed up looking for Daisy. It bothered me because I think he's a better father and detective than that.


End file.
